For Kristen Cole, one of the best parts of the Oviedo YMCA’s recent $4.5 million renovation is the kids’ screams.

Her office is down the hall from Club Y, a room where parents can drop off their 6- to 11-year-olds for two hours while they go work out.

“The kids run ahead of their parents and come in here, and I hear the doorbell chime. And then they run back out of the room and run to their parents and yell, ‘It’s completely different!’ ” said Cole, executive director of the Oviedo Y.

It’s been a two-year project, starting in 2016 and wrapping up earlier this year. The upgrades include the lobby; locker rooms; the second floor, where all the gym equipment is; and the activity rooms for babies and children.

“Our goal is for every person that walks in the door to feel better by the time they leave,” said Dan Ickes, Chief Operating Officer of the Central Florida YMCA.

The Oviedo Y was built in the late 1990s by the Winter Park Health Foundation. By early the 2000s, the YMCA took over the management of the facility. And in 2014, the organization bought it.

The Y sits in Seminole County, between the cities of Oviedo and Winter Springs. Its membership has grown over the years and so has the members’ demographics, reflecting the region’s growth.

Where once seniors and individuals made up most of the membership, today young families are as much a part of the facility.

The facility has more than 6,000 members, with 1,200 visiting each day.

Its pool is one of the busiest of the Central Florida YMCA in per-square-foot activity. And this Y is one of the three in Central Florida that are open Sunday mornings.

“Our members know we’re not a church, but we’re a Christian organization and have very Christian values and love being part of this community,” said Ickes, who was giving a tour of the facility.

Along the way, a senior member stopped him for a short conversation.

“Listen, I don’t know if you’re joining us or not, but I love it here,” she said.

The Oviedo YMCA is still educating the locals about it being a nonprofit that needs donations and philanthropic dollars.

It gives out close to $150,000 in assistance to members who can’t afford to join the Y or use its services. But it’s managed to raise $120,000 toward that goal. And it’s trying to figure out how to close the gap.

“One of the challenges of this Y is that it didn’t start from the grassroots,” said Ickes. “This was a Y that became our own in 2014, so the philanthropic part of our members aren’t thinking that way. So we’re in the process of making them aware that this Y exists because we’re a 501(c)3 and we do need annual fundraising dollars to provide assistance to people who can’t afford it.”

One of the facility’s biggest advocates has been Dr. Margaret Miller, a former University of Central Florida professor who sits on the board of Dr. Phillips Charities.

She persuaded the charitable organization to go outside of Orange County and donate $3.2 million to the Oviedo Y for the renovation project.

But Ickes has bigger dreams.

“We need a gymnasium and an outdoor pool,” he said. “In this area, gym space is very valuable.”

The time frame for those projects depends on how quickly the Y can raise the funds, he said.

Meanwhile, the Central Florida YMCA is pursuing nine projects including renovations and new YMCAs during the next 10 years.

Starting in June, the Wayne Densch YMCA Family Center in Orlando and the J. Douglas Williams YMCA Family Center in Lake Mary will start major renovations to their parking lots, front doors and other internal and external elements. A new YMCA also is planned for a large development project near College Park in the Packing District.

Denniseya Pugh, 19, a survivor of childhood trauma, talks about the benefits of mental health counseling for teens, during an interview at the Children's Home Society in Orlando, Monday, August 6, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Denniseya Pugh, 19, a survivor of childhood trauma, talks about the benefits of mental health counseling for teens, during an interview at the Children's Home Society in Orlando, Monday, August 6, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

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Doctors at Osceola Regional Medical Center performed the 100th transcatheter aortic valve replacement on Ramona Centeno Santos, a Puerto Rican evacuee, who moved in with her granddaughter after Hurricane Maria swept away her house in September.

Doctors at Osceola Regional Medical Center performed the 100th transcatheter aortic valve replacement on Ramona Centeno Santos, a Puerto Rican evacuee, who moved in with her granddaughter after Hurricane Maria swept away her house in September.